The Federal Government of Nigeria is set to lift the ban imposed on Twitter in June 2020 as the social media micro-blogging platform is reported to have met the six terms and conditions demanded by the Federal Government before lifting the ban.
The Technical Committee delegated by the Government to bring resolution to the cul-de-sac between the two parties, is refining the offers by Twitter before concluding on its approbation to President Muhammadu Buhari
Twitter reportedly listed out all the terms and conditions demanded of them by the FG, to restore their services to be; “ Open an office in Nigeria; Have a country representative; Register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)/get the National Broadcasting Commision’s (NBC) licence; Payment of fair taxes; Train Nigerian IT personnel and strategic intelligence officers on how to report twitter abuse/infractions noticed by the government; Sensitivity to national security and cohesion, Itmust not underestimate the power a nation’s security possesses”
Towards the end of 2021, the micro blogging platform has recorded the fulfilment of six conditions set by the Federal Government for the lifting of the ban on its service in Nigeria. And as such, the operation of Twitter will now be fully regulated, there will be an opening of its office and a deployment of a representative from the Country who will be held responsible for any infraction.
The Platform has requested for the FG to give it some time to take off its opening of the Office this year 2022, being a new year as it didn’t make appropriate preparations for its opening last year.
It was also stated that with the payment of taxes, Twitter hopes that the government will earn enhanced revenue and create gainful employment and training to empower the intellectual and well meaning IT citizens of the country.
The ban is said to have helped correct the lapses of the past. For instance, many social media platforms has been earning hugely from the country without any form of legal backing and compliance with the revenue laws of the country.
Notwithstanding, Nigeria has allegedly lost over ₦6bn to the ban but the FG has lost even much more in revenue. In spite of the recourse to bypassing methods such as VPN by some users in Nigeria, Twitter revenue slumped considerably because this alternative does not fetch income to it.
Now, the era of impunity is gone as Twitter met the terms and condition of the FG to lift the ban and the two parties have reached a consensus on how to manage posts likely to produce security breaches and those that can threaten Nigerian Security.
As the security discourse was the last point of negotiation, the two parties have agreed on how to report offensive posts or reports that undermine the Nigerian security.
President Buhari has agreed in principle principle to lift ban but we have to consider the conditions and what Twitter offered. Some aspects have IT implications which the Technical Committee must study in the overall interest of the nation. Once the President gets the report of the committee, he will decide.
